Terra & Tide
All journeys
Mountains
The High Traverse
Seven nights along the watershed, hut to hut, with the valley never quite out of sight.
DISTANCE
96 km
TOTAL ASCENT
5,180 m
NIGHTS
7 nights
FROM
$4,650
Demanding · six to eight hours most days
Day by day
DAY 1
Arrive Ste-Foy
Meet at the station at four. Kit check over supper, and an early night, because tomorrow starts at six.
Transfer 40 min
Village inn
DAY 2
Up to the Col refuge
The long way in, through larch forest and then above it. The first hut appears an hour before you believe it will.
980 m ascent · 5 h
Mountain hut
DAY 3
The watershed
Ridge all day, a valley falling away on either side. Lunch sitting on the divide with a leg in each catchment.
640 m ascent · 7 h
Mountain hut
DAY 4
Across the flat ice
Roped for three hours over the glacier. Crampons on at dawn while it is still hard, off again by eleven.
410 m ascent · 6 h
Mountain hut
DAY 5
A day at Praz
A day of nothing, deliberately. Sleep late, wash socks, walk up the little hill behind the village if you want to.
Optional 3 h
Village inn
DAY 6
The high col
The highest point of the route at 2,900 m, and the one day we will turn back from if the weather says so.
1,100 m ascent · 8 h
Mountain hut
DAY 7
Down the east side
A long descent your knees will have opinions about. Trees again by mid-afternoon, and a proper bath at the end of it.
1,400 m descent · 6 h
Village inn
DAY 8
Out at Bourg
Breakfast together, then transport down the valley. Most people are on a train by noon.
Transfer 55 min
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What the price covers
INCLUDED
Guiding throughout · all accommodation as listed · breakfast and evening meal every day · baggage transfer between stops · group safety kit and first aid · a full kit list and route notes eight weeks before you go
NOT INCLUDED
Flights and travel to the start · lunches · travel insurance, which we require · personal equipment · drinks with meals · tips, which nobody expects
Departures
Eight places on every date. When one is full we do not add a ninth, and we will say honestly which of the remaining dates suits the route best.
Departs early July
3 left
Open
Departs mid August
1 left
Few places
Departs early September
6 left
Open
Ask the guide who runs this route.
Not an inbox and not a chatbot. Tell us the month you are thinking about and roughly how far you want to walk.